Thursday, July 29, 2010

Your Help Urgently Needed to Save the Future of Human Spaceflight, SpaceX

 NO on H.R. 5781 Effort

"If you care about the future of American space exploration, your urgent help is necessary. The only hope for the average citizen to one day travel to space is in danger due to the actions of certain members of Congress. SpaceX does not have the enormous lobbying power of the big government contractors to stop them, however with your help the day can still be saved.

NASA's Authorization bill (H.R. 5781) will be debated on the floor of the US House of Representatives tomorrow. Despite the imminent retirement of the Space Shuttle, H.R. 5781 authorizes over five times as many taxpayer dollars to fly NASA astronauts on the Russian Soyuz than it invests in developing an American commercial alternative, moreover at a time when jobs are sorely needed in the United States. Quite simply, this bill represents the sort of senseless pork politics that has driven our national debt to the point where our economy can barely service it.

The bill is expected to be brought to the House floor this Friday under a special "suspension of the rules," which is a procedure that limits debate and amendments.

Telephone your Congressional representative right away via the House Switchboard at (202) 225-3121 to vote NO on H.R. 5781, and instead support the bill unanimously agreed to in the Senate last week.

Your five minutes will make a critical difference, ensuring an exciting and inspiring future in space travel! SpaceX rarely asks you to take action, so you know it really matters when we do.

--Elon--

Look up your representative here." 

Update: I sent an email to Congressman John Campbell (48th District serving Orange County, California) urging him to vote NO on this bill. I applied to NASA twice back in 2003 and in 2008. While I am a proud supporter of NASA my chances of someday going to space hinges on commercial spaceflight taking off (no pun intended). We have to support commercial spaceflight and I will proudly divert my tax payer dollars towards this effort. This is the only way I see of making my dream come through.

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